"You" can help your job hunting "thank you"

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Which “thank you” are you more likely to read? The note that opens with 1) “Thank you for meeting with me” or 2) “Your company’s disciplined approach to…”?

Number 1 makes me yawn. “Another lame thank you note,” I say to myself, although I’m impressed the writer bothered to write when so many people don’t.

Number 2 makes me think, “Hey, this person listened to me! They’re writing about one of my company’s key messages.”

Recruiters and career counselors tell job hunters their communications should focus on the company that they’re pitching instead of on themselves. One way to achieve this is to start your “thank you” note with the words “you” or “your,” and then convey your appreciation later.

A friend tried a variation on this when requesting an informational interview from a senior executive. He opened by citing an article that had quoted the exec. “You said ‘…’ in this article, which interested me because…’ ” He got the interview.

The power of “you” isn’t just for job hunters. It boosts the power of most communications–blogs, brochures, articles, websites, white papers, and more. Try it and see!


Related posts
*  Which topic should you discuss in your client email’s first paragraph?
*  Your mail has three seconds to grab your reader’s attention
* To “dear” or not to “dear” in your email

____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
If you’re struggling to pump out a steady flow of good blog posts, check out my five-week teleclass for financial advisors, “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read,” and sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Moldy websites hurt your SEO, but blogging can help

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Your website needs regular infusions of fresh content to help potential clients find you.

That’s one of the lessons I took away from “Things that can hurt your website’s ranking” in The Boston Globe on Jan. 24. The author advised against “Building your website but letting it molder for months without updates,” if you’d like your website to show up in searches.  

If you blog regularly on your website, that counts as an update. The same thing applies if you add your regular newsletters to your site. If you blog somewhere other than your website, consider feeding your blog to your website, as I’ve done on my Investment Writing website. I also regularly add my monthly newsletter and occasionally update my portfolio of writing samples and other website pages.

By the way, while I couldn’t find a link to the website ranking article that I quote above, I believe it appeared as a sidebar to Scott Kirsner’s “In Web world, a successful marketing effort means gaining inside track on searches.”

What about YOU? Have you found that updating your website regularly has improved your online search rankings?
____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
If you’re struggling to pump out a steady flow of good blog posts, check out my five-week teleclass for financial advisors, “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read,” and sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Five-Week Writing Teleclass for Financial Advisors: "How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read"

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Blogging has become a “must” for many independent and fee-only financial advisors. It’s a great way to connect with current and potential clients. Blogging also helps drive traffic to your website and cement your reputation as a leader in your field. But many advisors struggle to crank out a steady flow of compelling blog posts. That’s why you need to enroll in “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read,” my NEW five-week teleclass for financial advisors.

You will learn how to
o  Generate and refine ideas for blog posts that will engage your readers
o  Organize your thoughts before you write, so you can write more quickly and effectively
o  Edit your writing, so it’s reader-friendly and appealing

The inaugural class will be offered exclusively to my newsletter subscribers and to clients. Participants in the initial class will receive a 50% discount in return for participating fully and providing detailed feedback.

When you participate fully in this class, you’ll end up with one polished blog post–and a process you can follow to generate many more.

How you’ll get there
o Small class–limited to 12 advisors–so you can participate, not just listen passively. Research shows that people learn best when they act on new information.
o Classes will meet on five successive Thursdays–Feb. 25, March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25– on a teleconference call from 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Eastern Time
o Convenience because you can dial into the weekly phone calls from anywhere–and classes are recorded, in case you can’t attend “live”
o Guidance through a step-by-step process of writing blog posts, including
o  Generating blog post topics
o  Organizing your thoughts before you write
o  Positioning your blog post to appeal to readers
o  Editing your posts to boost their reader-friendliness      
o  “Hands on” practice through completing your weekly homework assignments
o  Resources for the future because you can download
o  Class recordings
o  Class handouts
o  E-booklet
o Feedback from a seasoned financial writer-editor whose clients range from the country’s largest asset managers to solo professionals to trade and retail publications

Register Now!

TESTIMONIALS
What advisors say about other workshops by Susan Weiner, CFA
o “I found this presentation very helpful because it focused on key elements to being an influential but understandable advisor.”
o  “Susan’s presentation brought to life the benefits of better writing.”
o  “Great tips for jump starting my client communications”
o  “Susan’s presentation made me want to go back to my office and juice up my emails and letters.”
 
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS?
Contact Susan at learn@investmentwriting.com or 617-969-4509.

Register Now!

To GIPS or not to GIPS in your presentations

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Must every presentation you give include the seemingly endless GIPS disclosures if your investment management firm claims GIPS compliance? For answers, I turned to Dave Spaulding,  president of The Spaulding Group and author of the Investment Performance Guy blog.

The short answer is “It depends.” When you hand someone a document containing performance data, you should either include the relevant GIPS disclosures or make sure that you’ve provided the disclosures during the past 12 months. There’s no exception to this rule. 

However, you’ve got more leeway when you make a live, in-person presentation to prospects or clients. You can’t mislead your audience. But you don’t need to include all of your GIPS data and disclosures in your live presentation. The keys are to
•    Provide enough information that your viewers understand what they’re seeing
•    Label as “supplementary” any performance information that is neither required  nor recommended
•    Hand your audience members a hard copy of your GIPS presentation

If you follow these rules, your presentations can focus on what you and your audience care most about. By the way, Dave’s presentation to the Boston Security Analysts Society on fixed income attribution was one of the top-drawing posts on my blog in 2009, so I thank him for helping to grow my audience.

Related posts
 •   What does GIPS verification mean?
•   A quant’s guide to detecting a future Madoff
 •   Top five tips for investment performance advertising
 •  SEC update to CFA Institute’s GIPS conference
 
____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
If you’re struggling to pump out a steady flow of good blog posts, check out my five-week teleclass for financial advisors, “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read,” and sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Bloggers, one theme per post, please

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Blog posts aren’t books. You only have time to make one major point per post.

In support of my thesis, I offer three quotes from The Elements of Story: Field Notes on Nonfiction Writing by Francis Flaherty, an editor at The New York Times.

  • “A writer is like a gardener who knows one tree can serve as a focal point in a garden, but that many trees will just muck up the impact of each. Also, a good writer realizes that readers have the mental room to store just one large thought from a story,” pages 32-33.
  • “A subject is not a story; it is many possible stories. To write is to choose, which is to exclude,” p. 33.
  • “No detail belongs in a story if it doesn’t serve some role therein. As Chekhov said, don’t put a gun on stage in Act I if it doesn’t get used by the end of the play,” p. 37

What do YOU think of Flaherty’s quotes?

By the way, if you’re struggling to crank out a steady stream of readable blog posts, consider enrolling in my five-week class for financial advisors, “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read.”

Related posts
*  Five great writing tips: They’re not just for ads
*  Financial writers, lead with your message, not your source
*  Bloggers’ top two punctuation mistakes 

 

NOTE: On May 25, 2021, I updated the link to my financial blogging class and to my related posts.

Poll about overweight, but not the stuff of New Year’s resolutions

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I grapple with “overweight” at the end of every year and every quarter. 

It’s the kind of overweight measured in percentage points, not pounds. That’s because I’m writing performance reports for institutional mutual funds that may overweight or underweight sectors relative to the funds’ benchmarks.

I haven’t found any guidelines about how to write about these statistics, so I’d like to find out which wording you prefer for talking about a fund that has above-benchmark holdings in a sector.

  1. Our overweight in
  2. Our overweight position in
  3. Our overweight to
  4. Our overweighting in
  5. Our overweighting to

Please answer the poll that will appear in the right-hand column of this blog until some time in February. I’ll report the results in my March newsletter.

If you can give a compelling reason why you favor specific wording, I’d also like to hear about that.

RIAs with DC assets are in demand by fund companies

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Registered investment advisors (RIAs), if you control significant defined contribution (DC) assets, then mutual fund companies are hungry for your business and will do whatever they can to accommodate you. That’s the message I took away from “The 2010 Distribution Landscape,” at panel at the NICSA East Coast Conference on Jan. 14. The panel, which was moderated by Matthew Bienfang of TowerGroup, included Catherine Saunders of Putnam Investments, Daniel Steele of BNY Mellon Asset Management/Dreyfus Investments, and Bill Taylor of Pioneer Investments.

DC plan assets offer mutual funds very attractive profit margins and RIAs are a significant source of growth in this arena, according to Bienfang. For example, defined contribution investment-only margins average 25% vs. about 17% for retail and 15% for SMA (separately managed account) assets. 

Bienfang stressed that fund firms need to sell to RIAs as if they were institutions rather than individual investors. Fund firms must also ask RIAs how they can help them grow and manage their businesses. Then Bienfang asked his panelists to talk about how they’re targeting RIAs with DC assets.

BNY Mellon: Game changer is coming 
Once IRS Form 5500 requires the disclosure of advisor compensation for retirement plans, “This will be a game changer,” said BNY Mellon’s Steele. Advisors won’t be able to pick up business simply “by golfing with the CEO’s brother,” he said. Instead, the business will shift to specialists. As a result, his firm is seeking wholesalers with a technical background investment management and retirement. “Ideally you want both, but those people are rare,” he said.

Steele also mentioned that his firm is using collective trusts, which are an institutional, less expensive way to offer the same investment strategies available in the form of mutual funds. Collective trusts are even less expensive than ETFs. Of course, as I recall, they also lack some of the transparency of mutual funds. For example, their net asset values aren’t published by newspapers. 

Pioneer Investments: Open architecture is key 
Bill Taylor said the spread of open architecture in DC plans is helping fund firms such as Pioneer. He is adding portfolio consultants who can interact with gatekeepers about portfolio dynamics and how the firm’s funds fit in portfolios. 

Taylor also stressed follow-up. He said that many RIAs have complained about salespeople who’ll take them to dinner, but won’t send the materials they promise. It’s a cultural challenge for salespeople that customer relationship management systems alone aren’t enough to solve. 

Putnam Investments: Give RIAs what they want 
Cathy Saunders said she has learned that it’s important to call on RIAs the way they want to be called on. Communication via webinar and phone call can be just as effective as face-to-face, if that’s what RIAs want.

Saunders has found that many RIAs want to dig deep into the firm’s thought leadership and market outlook. They have a strong appetite to bridge the knowledge gap, she said. In addition, advisors from wirehouses are looking for business management tools and they want companies to support the tools they’re accustomed to using. 

Implications for fund firms

  • Fund fees will fall because of increased competition, as Taylor noted.
  • It’s important to segment RIAs. About 15% of RIA firms control 80% of the assets and 30% of the RIA channel is in the Northeast Corridor of the U.S., from Washington, D.C. on up, said Saunders.
  • Target date funds (TDF), the most popular DC plan option, remain a barrier to entry for fund firms because 92% of TDFs are proprietary funds of recordkeepers. However, Taylor believes the open architecture will chip away at the dominance of proprietary TDFs. Steele said that in 2010 non-proprietary funds will finally surpass proprietary funds in DC plans.
  • Providing incentives to sales people is difficult because of DC plans’ omnibus accounting, as Taylor and Steele noted. However, the situation is improves once a firm becomes a “premier provider,” Taylor said. He also noted that it’s important to get retail and retirement wholesalers to cooperate. Sometimes retail wholesalers want the retirement wholesalers to help the retail wholesalers’ RIAs to sell to DC plans when the retirement wholesalers are aware of other RIAs who are much better suited to DC sales.

Implications for advisors

  • You’ll find more actively managed funds available for lower fees.
  • Fund firms will take a more consultative approach to their interactions with you. Saunders said she has learned that it’s important to understand RIAs’ business models before deploying resources.

Related posts
* If you’re marketing to RIAs

Guest Post: My Six Best Marketing Tips for Independent Advisors

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When Steve Lyons spoke with me about his tips for helping financial advisors market themselves, I knew that I’d like to share them with you. When I first met Steve, he was a copywriter for Fidelity Investments. Today he enjoys working with clients of all sizes, including individual advisors.

My Six Best Marketing Tips for  Independent Advisors
by Steve Lyons


As a professional marketer and copywriter specializing in advisor communications for print and the Web, I know firsthand the challenges independent advisors face in marketing their business to investors. Whether  you’re a veteran or just beginning your practice as an independent financial advisor, these marketing tips can help you stay on track to achieve your goals.

1.    You’re not just a business, you’re a brand. True, your business relies on you – as a financial advisor and person. But take the initiative to create and build your business as something that is bigger than you are – a brand with goals and values. Work with a reputable marketing consultant or firm to help you understand and tell the world how unique you are. And more, take your brand development and marketing as seriously as the big firms. They’re spending and working overtime to make sure that investors do not notice you.

2.    Quit talking about yourself. Successful marketing begins with telling your audience the BENEFITS of working with you – not the details of your personal or professional life. It may be interesting that you have a master’s degree in finance, but it’s much more powerful to talk about how your degree creates opportunity for your clients.  Use your one-to-one sale time to be more specific about why you as an Independent Advisor and person and why you are the advisor for them (and they’re the client for you).

3.    Remember, you’re not selling only financial advice. You’re selling a lifestyle. What sets the larger and more successful firms apart from less successful independent advisory firms? They understand that money management is only the means to an end. The real goal is to help clients achieve their goals and dreams, whether it’s living in luxury, providing charitable contributions and/or leaving a legacy for family and friends.  Use imagery in your marketing that helps them see their financial future as they want it to be–fun, exciting, adventuresome and secure.

4.    Understand what makes you different.  It’s important to know what makes you different from the advisor down the street.  Is it your investment philosophy? Your investment strategy? Do you offer a fee-discount for multi-generation wealth management?  Do you accept only select clients by referral only? Whatever it is, and the list can be extensive, know why you are different from your competition.

5.    Create a marketing plan. And implement it. If there was ever a time for independent advisors to make a difference, the time is now. There is more cash on the sidelines than any time in modern history. How do you obtain some of the stockpile? By creating a marketing plan that includes long term and short-term goals. Regardless of your budget, there are opportunities for you to get your name out there.

6.    Think out of the box. Your clients are everywhere. You have to find them and they have to find you. Sponsor community programs, leagues and events. Create a billboard. Write guest columns for local publications. Create a blog. Use social networking on the Web. Make calls. Make more calls. If this feels overwhelming, hire a reputable consultant or firm to help you think out of the box and execute marketing programs that builds and supports your brand. 

Steve Lyons’s experience includes marketing, copywriting and content development for both Fortune 500 and small businesses, with clients including numerous independent advisors and wealth managers throughout the country. He is a principal in LD Marketing Communications Consultancy and SoWa Ad Group, a collaborative offering the full branding experience, including public relations, for businesses of all sizes.

Do you go crazy over misspellings?

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Then you’ll probably enjoy “Ten Words You Should Stop Misspelling” from TheOatmeal.com. I couldn’t stop laughing.

I discovered this through Twitter. This isn’t a business reason to participate in Twitter but a little laughter helps every now and then.

I LOVE this fixed income presentation!

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“Bonds should be boring.” That’s what one head of fixed income of fixed income used to tell me. But that doesn’t mean that fixed income presentations should be boring.

Northern Trust has published the most enjoyable fixed income presentation I’ve ever seen. It’s called “Fixed Income: Almost A Bedtime Story.”

Fixed Income: Almost A Bedtime Story

What’s so great about this post?
— Simple message, plain language
— Uncluttered pages
— Sense of humor — Oh my goodness! Northern Trust wrote an amusing disclosure on slide #23. “Psst: Fixed income may also be volatile in the future.”

These are characteristics that you can strive for in your presentations, though humor is a bit tricky. I think you need lots of experience grappling with compliance to find the laughs in slide #23’s disclosure. 

I would like to shake the hands of the team that created this presentation. It’s amazingly good. If it spawns imitators, that’ll be a great development for the folks who currently snooze through deadly presentations.